Thai refiner ThaiOil has suffered an unplanned outage at a crude distillation unit (CDU) in its Sriracha refinery, according to traders and a source close to the refiner.
The refiner, whose major shareholder is PTT, has likely shut the affected CDU, with traders noting that the largest impact should be on middle distillates. The Sriracha refinery has three CDUs, of which the third unit is linked most closely to production of diesel and jet-kerosine, according to ThaiOil's website, although the refinery is in the middle of an upgrading project.
The 275,000 b/d Sriracha refinery accounts for a quarter of Thailand's total refining capacity of 1mn b/d, and can meet 35pc of domestic demand for oil products. Middle distillate production accounts for 56pc of the refiner's total production, according to ThaiOil's website.
Reports of the outage have resulted in "panic buying" from middle distillate traders, said a Singapore-based distillates trader, with the gasoil front-forward month spread traded higher at around $1.10/bl, from 10 January's $0.75/bl.
The Singapore jet fuel front-forward month spread also steepened in backwardation to around $1.95/bl on 11 January from $1.55/bl on 10 January.
